Yale Wins Two but Loses Cups to Harvard

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale lightweight crew team had an up-and-down day at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta, held on Yale's home course on the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn. The Bulldogs finished first in the second varsity and first freshmen races. However, propelled by victories in the varsity, third varsity and second freshmen, Harvard took home the Vogel Cup for overall team dominance, as well as the Goldthwait Cup for its varsity race victory. For the first time, the regatta featured the Freshman Bowl, which was recently donated by the Yale lightweight class of 2011. It was awarded to Yale, the winner of the freshman race. A strong tailwind along with some current led to fast conditions.

The first race of the day, the second freshmen race, did not include a Yale entry, thus it pitted Harvard and Princeton directly against each other. Harvard came out on top in 5:48.4, compared to Princeton's time of 5:51.6.

In the third varsity race, Yale and Harvard were locked together for most of the first 1000 meters. However, Harvard used a strong second half to pull ahead, winning by 3.9 seconds. Harvard finished in 5:56.2, with Yale second in 6:00.1 and Princeton third in 6:04.5.

The closest race of the day was the first freshmen race. All three crews were within a few seats over the first thousand. Around the 1000-meter mark, Harvard used a strong move to pull ahead of the other crews and open a small lead. With 300 meters to go and finding themselves down by six seats, the Yale crew used a strong sprint to take over the lead and edge Harvard by 1.4 seconds, who finished 3.1 seconds over Princeton. Yale, Harvard and Princeton finished in times of 5:43.8, 5:45.2 and 5:48.3 respectively. This victory allowed Yale to capture the first annual Freshman Bowl.

In the next race, the second varsity, Yale used a strong start to establish an early lead and quickly find a strong rhythm. Yale used powerful moves to pull away from the field, winning by 8.9 seconds. Yale finished in a time of 5:33.9, with Princeton second in 5:42.8 and Harvard in 5:44.0.

The last race of the day was the varsity race, with the Goldthwait Cup at stake. Similarly to the other races, all three crews were very close through the first 1000 meters. However, pushes by Harvard and Princeton proved to be too much for Yale. Harvard won the race in 5:31.2, with Princeton 4.2 seconds back in 5:35.4 and Yale third in 5:37.2.

Harvard's three victories boosted them to a Vogel Cup victory with 35 points. Yale was second with 28 points and Princeton third with 21 points.

Yale now has two weeks to further train and improve before the championship season begins with the Eastern Sprints on May 13th.